Shelby About Town

Dominique Sachse gets engaged in Rome, Donne di Domani cooks up a book & Mosaicthrows a bark fest

This kiss at Liaisons au Louvre in Paris in June was a sure sign of things tocome for Nick Florescu and Dominique Sachse.
Photo by Michelle Watson/CatchLightGroup.com
The oh-so-chic Ristorante Dal Bolognese in Rome was the setting for the officialproposal.
Gordon Bethune, from left, Jessica Rossman, Joanne King Herring and EdwardSanchez at Sotheby's in New York.
La Cucina Della Donne cookbook is loaded with homestyle Italian recipiesincluding a special lasagna.
Courtesy photo
Abigail Ciscomani, from left, Thais Cuffy and Mackenzie Hollas at Mosaic forRonald McDonald House.
Photo by Alison Carlino
Jim Dow, from left, Philip Tenenbaum and Mikki Donnelly at Mosaic for RonaldMcDonald House.
Photo by Alison Carlino

It's official: KPRC Ch. 2 news anchor Dominique Sachse and international businessman Nick Florescu, a steady duo for more than a year, are engaged. Mr. Tall, Dark and Handsome popped the question to the native Houston beauty last week on the last night of a holiday in Rome.

The ask was made during dinner at the swank Ristorante Dal Bolognese in the Piazza del Popolo. It wasn't a complete surprise to her as a few days earlier, at a large family gathering in Prague, Nick introduced Dominique as "unofficially, the soon-to-be newest member of the Florescu family."

"Now, the corny part," she emailed. "We're thinking of having a small mural of the Piazza del Popolo painted on our kitchen wall."

Congrats to matchmaker Monsour Taghdisi, who introduced the two.

No exact date is yet set but Dominique says only half joking that it will probably have to be planned around sweeps and hurricane season, which means March, April or early June of next year. The crux is to convince KPRC management to let Dominique's co-anchor Bill Balleza and meteorologist Frank Billingsley and herself all be off at the same time.

Bets are that it will be a destination wedding and Rome is at the top of the happy couple's list.

Texans take Manhattan

The Texas accent was unmistakable at Sotheby's in New York Monday night when a handful of Houston notables were in the mix for the New York Academy of Art's annual "Take Home a Nude" fundraiser.

Gordon Bethune, an academy trustee recruited by the academy's founder and friend Eileen Guggenheim, sipped and shopped the many pieces with his lady love Jessica Rossman. As high bidder in the auction, she went home with a Cynthia Rowley oil on canvas, a nude with flowers.

Representing H-Town were Joanne King Herring, Edward Sanchez, Shelly Ann Marks and Andrews Kurth partner Mark Young. Jessica reports that the place was crawling with national celebs including Mary Kate Olsen, Padma Lakshmi, Andre Balaz, Angela Bassett and Rowley.

The event raised more than $750,000 for the art academy.

Cooking with Donne di Domani

If you love their marinara sauce that sells out every year at the Houston Ballet Nutcracker Market, you're going to equally adore the cookbook, La Cucina Delle Donne, with homestyle recipes compiled from members of Donne di Domani (Women of Tomorrow). This group of women of Italian heritage formed in 1985 to preserve their culture and raise funds for charity.

They began small with their famed marinara sauce and, since inception of that tasty cottage industry, the ladies have raised some $1.5 million for local charities. Among those donning aprons and stirring the sauce over the decades have been Mary Ann Carrabba, Rose Cullen, Lorraine Dinerstein, Grace Ison, Roz Pactor and Rosalie Gusemano.

One caveat in the recipe book, which will be sold at the Nutcracker Market along with the Donne di Domani marinara, recipes were submitted by members and friends and were not tested. Shall we say, "Cook at your own risk." But who could resist the recipe for Dolores Aleo Genitempo's Italian sausage rigatoni or Annette DeWalch Strake's manicotti with venison or elk? How about Rosalie Spiro Lucci's hunter's chicken cacciatore or Mary Lou Cenatiempo's limoncello cake?

The book came in response to requests from those who love the sauce and it's a sure bet that it, along with the sauce, will be sold out long before the Nutcraker Market ends.

Painting goes to the dogs

And it was all in good fun when supporters of Ronald McDonald House gathered at Mosiac on Hermann Park, that swank twin-towered high-rise, to paint dog bowls for a very special event. Decorative doggie bowls, painted by both Ronald McDonald House residents and partygoers, will line the route of the second annual Trafigura Home Run that takes place at Sam Houston Park on Dec. 3. The 10K-run and 2K-family walk will benefit the non-profit located in the Texas Medical Center.

The recent painting session doubled as a cocktail kickoff for the event that will welcome pooches to the race course. After all, the Ronald McDonald House resident canine, Mogie, will lead the way. Thus, the artistic dog bowls will line the route and once the race is over, the plastic doggie dishes will be sold ($10 minimum donation) at an after-party open to families and canines.

You can view the "Bowls That Benefit" in a retail space at Mosiac, where they will be on display through Dec. 1.

Welcoming guests to the party were Jim Dow, senior vice president of ST Residential which owns Mosiac, and Ronald McDonald board president Philip Tenenbaum. Joining the party were Abigail and Daniel Ciscomani, Thais Cuffy, Leigh and Howard Levine, Leslie Bourne, Mary Reynolds, Annie Foley, Marlene Harrison and Wendy Pekar.

Sight 'ems

Patsy and Greg Fourticq having dinner in the bar at Tony's where friends welcomed them home after their long summer in Colorado Springs. Toasting the homecoming were their son, Gregory Fourticq; PaperCity's Holly Moore; interior designer Randy Powers and businessman Bill Caudell . . .

Kathi and Bill Rovere also dining in the bar at Tony's.

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an all-star night

Houston Astros stars cheer on Allie LaForce and former Astros pitcher Joe Smith at their unforgettable, $600,000 gala

Photo by Daniel Ortiz

Joe Smith and Allie LaForce

Photo by Daniel Ortiz

HelpCure HD founders and sports power couple Joe Smith and Allie LaForce.

With its big-league setting at Minute Maid Park, the who’s-who crowd of Houston Astros players and wives, and upbeat, party vibe, the HelpCureHD Gala guarantees a night full of scene-stealing moments every year.

And the recent event at Union Station may have topped them all — and not because it raised a record $600,000 for the fight against the accursed Huntington’s Disease.

Those moments are all thanks to power sports couple and founders Allie LaForce, the respected, fan-favorite TNT sports reporter, and her husband Joe Smith, a former Houston Astros and MLB pitcher. The dynamic duo has always turned the spotlight to a couple they have helped receive fertility treatments in order to have a baby free of the incurable Huntington’s Disease — which is best described as the worst combination of Alzheimers and Parkinson’s Disease.

At each event, a thankful couple, their beautiful baby, and their gripping story leaves the audience in tears and rousing applause.

True MVPs celebrate a championship moment

But this year, with respect to those other deserving families, may have topped them all. For years, LaForce and Smith have tirelessly worked and sacrificed to make more than 135 couples' dreams of a healthy baby come true. All the while, LaForce endured the physically and emotionally painful roller coaster of PGD-IVF treatments (more on those later) for their own dream baby while Smith lovingly cheered her on — that ultimately wouldn’t take.

Imagine the applause, then, when LaForce and Smith walked onstage with their beautiful — and HD-free — little son Jacob, who was born in November. Wiggly and well-dressed Jacob, held by his beaming and proud Mom, stole the show by trying to pry the mic out of his Dad’s hand while Smith thanked the audience.

“The way Joe looked at Jacob when he saw him on the stage, that will be an image in my soul forever,” LaForce tells CultureMap. “Jake is proof that it is all worth it — and that Joe doesn't have to feel guilty for the pain I went through, because everything is going to be okay.”

Tears. Applause. Game on

After a VIP reception, it was on to the gala, which boasted a well-dressed crowd, a sax player holding a single note for three (yes, three) minutes while egged on by emcee Johnny Bravo, a lively silent auction — where Astros owner Jim Crane even offered to have his lovely wife Whitney bring a bottle of champagne to the winners of his donation: a four-day luxury retreat to his Floridian National Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, Florida. (We're guessing Mrs. Crane will pass the delivery on to someone else.)

Guests feasted on dinner and dessert and mixed and mingled (we caught of a few seconds of Thursday Night Football game on Alex Bregman's phone and joked about our time with him at his recent Raising Cane's job, while his wife — and CultureMap columnist— Reagan chatted with presenting sponsors Danny and Iris Shaftel of Shaftel Diamonds).

Speaking of Shaftel Diamonds, the company created a dazzling, one-of-a-kind necklace created with LaForce as the highlighted item for the evening’s raffle. Big spenders bid on silent auction items for ladies and Houston Astros experiences and memorabilia for the guys. Astros players showed up — and paid up — for the worthy cause.

LaForce also made sure to recognize the medical treatment team who helped her with her own Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnoses and In Vitro Fertilization (the aforementioned PGD-IVF), where specialists can screen embryos for the disease before they are implanted.

That process was even more poignant with a video of Smith's mother Lee Smith. As LaForce shared with CultureMap in the past, Lee was diagnosed with Huntington’s Disease in 2012 and passed in 2020, just shy of her 62nd birthday. Making HD more sinister is the fact that there is a 50 percent chance of passing the disease on to children.

LaForce and Smith promised Lee they would have a child free of the disease, which made her light up. No doubt, she was there, cheering them on. (Smith's beaming Dad is always in attendance.)

More on the way

That's why LaForce and Smith throw the annual gala and help fund the HelpCureHD grant: to find a cure for HD and cover the costs of PGD-IVF services. The no-nonsense, nonstop (literally) LaForce isn't shy about her plan for next year's event. “My goal is to raise $1 million at the next gala,” she says “ More money, more families. That simple.”

Awesome. But we had to ask: After seeing handsome Jacob, any plans for more kiddos? She didn't miss a beat.

“I have three embryos left and absolutely plan on transferring them all!”

We'll be cheering you on, Allie.

Seen in the crowd: Whitney and Jim Crane, Melissa and Dusty Baker, Reagan and Alex Bregman, Melissa and Dusty Baker, Michael Brantley, Adrienne and Jared Crane, Kat and Ryan Pressly,Kyle Tucker, Rachel and Jeff Bagwell, Marla Hurley, Dr. Erin Furr-Stimming and Chris Stimming, Jo Furr, Dr. Dottie Roach, Robert Clay and Dana Barton, Danny and Iris Shaftel, Rachel and Jeff Bagwell, Dean Putterman, Ed Finger, Elizabeth and John Elder, Dr. Sherri Levin, Bill Baldwin and Fady Armanious.